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Three Cheap Ways To Heat Your Apartment

Keeping Warm Without Breaking The Bank When Temperatures Drop

Looking at three cheaper and most economical ways to heat your apartment including efficient central heating use, electric directional and background heating.

Keeping warm is one of our basic requirements but, like other needs such as eating and drinking, there is a price attached to it. Rising energy bills mean the need to use heating equipment more carefully, consider energy use and look for methods of saving heat become ever more important.

Saving Heat

Insulation – simple insulation measures such as putting a draught excluder at the bottom of the main door, and maybe the doorway to the primary room you use, are worthwhile as are smaller ones on window ledges if they’re letting in outside air.

It may sound unlikely, but it’s true that putting cling film or bubble wrap on windows helps preserve heat, especially if you haven’t got double glazing.

If you own your apartment and it has a loft space, then loft insulation helps. Even if it already has some, check it’s thick enough if laid many years ago. You may be able to get a grant for insulation as may your landlord if you’re renting; maybe bring it to their attention.

Radiators and heating control – using a reflective surface or even tin foil behind a radiator will help reflect more heat into the room as opposed to into the wall it’s fixed to. If your radiators have temperature control valves, adjust them so you’re not heating up rooms you don’t use.

Overall, it’s considered more efficient to only run the heating when you need it as opposed to heating your apartment all day at a lower temperature. If you have programmable heating, set it to come on just before you come home or get up in the morning so your apartment is warmed up ready for you.

Warm clothing – it’s true putting on an extra jumper and thick socks will help. It’s certainly a waste to turn the heating up and then sit around in a thin tee shirt and shorts.

Heating Options

The following are cost effective ways of keeping warm.

Electric background heating with Tubular Heaters

A way of providing a ‘layer’ of background heat where you can add to it with something like a directional heater, or have the central heating come on either later than usual or at a lower temperature, is to deploy tube heaters.

These compact and cheap to run heaters are very popular where background heating is needed such as in greenhouses, pet kennels, larger store cupboards and conservatories. They can be programmed to come on at various times or when temperatures drop to a certain level, and running costs can be as low as barely half a pence per hour.

Depending on the size of your apartment – or main room you wish to mostly warm up – they may even at times provide enough heat to get by on. If you do still need your central heating or other electric heaters, there’s a distinct likelihood that you’d be able to run them for less time and at lower temperatures.

Central heating

Central heating is cost-effective so long as it’s used carefully.

As said earlier, don’t run it when you don’t need it and wear more clothing rather than turn up the temperature. Only heat the rooms you need if possible, and help keep heat in by closing curtains at dusk and insulating using the measures described above.

For every 1 degree you can lower the thermostat, you’ll save money during the course of a year.

Directional heating

If you’re spending longer periods in one place such as sitting at a desk or on the sofa watching television, then halogen heaters are worth using. They are less costly to run than an electric convection or fan heater, but only ‘beam’ heat in one direction as opposed to heaters using convection to spread heat throughout a space.

Energy check up

While you’re considering what methods to use in economically heating your apartment, it’s worth reviewing other ways you use and spend money on energy. You might find non heating related uses such as other appliances and heating your hot water inefficiently are costing more than they should.

if you are renting a flat or apartment, then buying a tubular heater is the best option as you can pack it up and take it to your next apartment.